Pumpkin Biscotti with Spiced Rum Glaze

I've written about biscotti before; but if you're new here, they're a hard, dry Italian biscuit made from a slightly sticky, twice-baked dough. Their name is a little bit of an entendre, they are biscotti, a biscuit, and bis-cotto, or "twice cooked."

They're quite hard, stemming from the second cooking, making them ideal for dipping in drinks like coffee or wine. They're traditionally to be dipped in a special wine known as vin santo, although I wouldn't recommend doing that in this recipe.

In this recipe, I use the traditional pumpkin spices; cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg.

To start, I form the dough by beating together butter and sugar, then adding the liquids just until it's about to take a curdled appearance, add some of the flour, and finish it with the rest of the liquid ingredients, flour, and baking powder. Then, I bake them, cool them, slice, and bake again until they're hard, and there is a light brown ring around the edges of each biscotto.

For the glaze, I melt butter, add dark brown sugar, milk, vanilla, and rum, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then, I add in lots of powdered sugar, and a pinch of salt. I drizzle this over the biscotti and let it cool until its hard to the touch.

(I recommend dipping these in a strong cup of coffee. Reminiscent of a pumpkin spice latte, though not so much as to be off-putting with the flavor of the coffee)

Pumpkin Biscotti:

4 tablespoons of softened butter, unsalted

1/3 cup of white sugar

1/3 cup of dark brown sugar

1 1/4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

3/4 tsp of ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 cups all purpose flour + 1 tablespoon

1 tsp vanilla

2 tablespoons dark rum, preferably spiced

1 3/4 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 F

Cream together the butter, sugar, vanilla, rum, spices, and salt. Beat in the pumpkin puree. Beat the egg, and pour about half of it in, and add a 1/2 cup of flour. Add the rest of the egg and beat until homogeneous. Sift in the flour and baking powder, and mix until a sticky dough forms. With floured hands, shape dough into two logs, and bake until the top is slightly soft, but there is a golden brown ring around the sides and bases. Remove from the oven, and let cool.

Lower the oven temperature to 325 F

Slice the biscotti into 3/4 of an inch slices, and place onto a baking sheet and cook for 10-12 minutes, flip, and cook for another 10-15 minutes.

Buttered Rum Glaze:

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp rum

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 cups confectioners sugar

Melt the butter in a sauce pan, and whisk in the liquid ingredients and brown sugar. Add the salt and powdered sugar, and stir until homogenous over low heat, cooking briefly after the stirring is finished. Drizzle over the biscotti, and let cool until firm to the touch.